The present invention relates in general to the field of protective knee pads, and more particularly to a flexible, thin, strapless knee pad to provide fall protections of the front and sides of knees, particularly suitable for figure skaters. The present invention also relates to a multifunctional body protection pad that can be used either as a knee pad or a hip pad.
Skating, such as figure skating, ice skating, and in-line skating, are popular sports. Among different types of skating, figure skating has additional specific requirements. It requires speed, grace, technique and athleticism to perform an artistic presentation. Jumps are an integral part of a figure skater""s performance, as is the aesthetic appearance that they present to the audience.
Unfortunately, skating must contend with various types of falls. These falls are random and essentially expose the skaters"" body to 360 degrees potential injury. Knee, hip, elbow and back injuries are common.
Competitive figure skaters practice their technique and jumps many hours every week. During these practices they fall repeatedly. These falls inevitably result in the skater""s knees impacting the ice repeatedly and with great force. Injuries to the knee joint and surrounding tissue are en ever-present danger. These injuries range from hematoma to fractures. Various pads have been designed to protect skaters, including knee pads, elbow pads, and hip pads.
All available knee pads are constructed from thick and bulky materials in order to achieve sufficient impact energy absorption for fall protection. These materials, if used in a thinner form, would offer less than adequate protection from injury. The thick and bulky feature is not suitable for the desired aesthetic appearance of skaters, in particular, figure skaters. In addition, available knee pads also requires straps or elastic tubes to attach the knee pads to the legs of a skater. Without straps or other means of attachment, the knee pad will fall because of their thickness, and lack of flexibility. These attachments impose unnatural pressure on a skater""s legs, which hinder free movements of the legs, particularly for a long period time of exercise or performance. Moreover, straps and elastic tubes bunch up behind the knee, which further generate unwanted compression, and restrict skater""s flexibility that is necessary to perform certain figure skating manoeuvres. Additionally, the straps and elastic tubes also have negative effects on a skater""s aesthetic appearance.
Furthermore, most available knee pads provide protection to the front of the knee, but not as much protection to the sides of the knee. However, the medial aspect of the knee, particularly medial epicondyle of femur and the medial condyle of the tibia, or lateral aspect of the knee, particularly the area between the lateral epicondyle of femur and the head of the fibuta, is most often the area that impacts the ice during a fall after a missed jump. U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,643 (to Beutler) discloses a knee pad including side walls to protect the side of the knee. However, the knee pad does not have sufficient extension on the side walls to cover the head of the fibuta, a critical coverage area for figure skaters. In addition, the knee pad depends on straps or other attaching structures to attach the knee pad to a user""s leg.
On the other hands, several hip pads have been designed for providing fall protections of a person""s hip. U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,786 (to Calvin) discloses a hip pad which can be inserted within the pants of the wearer. The hip pad is a single piece flat pad configured to cover both sides of hips and buttocks area. Although the pad provides protection of hips and buttocks area, it has a large size and would be apparent if it is worn by a figure skater, which would cause undesired distortion of a natural body shape.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,997 discloses a form-fitting garment having side pockets that allow hip pads for the protection of the greater trochanter. The hip pads are used with the support of the garment. The garment restricts body flexibility, and the pads also detract from natural body contour aesthetics.
Therefore, it is apparent there exists a special need for a knee pad and a hip pad particularly suitable for figure skating, which would provide fall protections without hindering natural body movements, and meet aesthetic requirements.
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a knee pad for providing fall protection of a knee. The knee pad comprises a flat single piece of flexible material made of encased resilient polymeric material. The knee pad is configured to have a top edge portion having a crown for protecting patella of a knee, a pair of first and second side edge portions extended from the top edge portion, and a bottom edge portion to which the first and second side edge portions extend. The first side edge portion has an extended flap for protecting a side of the knee.
The knee pad of the present invention is specifically designed to protect patella of the knee, medial or lateral aspect of the knee, particularly the head of fibula and an immediate surrounding tissue. The knee pad can be reversed, front to back, for selectively protecting a desired side of a knee, and further for selectively protecting a knee of a desired leg interchangeably.
The knee pad of the present invention is strapless, and can be held in position by a body tight garment without additional attachment devices.
In a further embodiment, the knee pad of the present invention can also function as a multifunctional body protection pad for providing fall protection of a knee or a hip interchangeably. The multifunctional body protection pad can be used either as a knee pad or as a hip pad at the user""s discretion, by inserting the pad in a body tight garment without additional attachment devices.
Moreover, if the multifunctional body protection pad is only used as a hip pad, the thickness of the pad can be increased for providing further protection depending on user""s body weight.